Leadership & Management
The Anatomy of an Effective Outsourcing Plan
When you decided to become an independent exercise entrepreneur, you had a core focus and a vision of how you would help your clients. But overnight you also became the accountant, janitor, customer service department, blog writer, fitness manager and CEO—all rolled into one.
Team Development: Keeping Your Team Positive and Engaged
When your dream team is happy, their attitudes are positive and they are friendly, open and welcoming. The team members get along and they take time to engage with participants and members.
Team Development: Refining Your Dream Team
Your team is on a winning streak. Then your alarm clock goes off and reality hits you. Your team might not be so dreamy after all.
But your dreams can become reality if you find ways to draft the right people onto your team and then retain them.
Team Development: Re-Inspire Your Staff
When employees feel uninspired, they don’t think about how to improve the systems at their facility. They aren’t interested in sharing their great ideas, and they don’t care about really engaging their clients.
Empowered Employees Perform Better
Want to improve productivity among your employees? Empower them, says research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (2011; 96 [3], 485–500). The study’s purpose was to study “antecedents and behavioral outcomes of employees’ perceptions of organizational support for development.” Analyzing data gathered from 264 exempt-level employees and their supervisors, the study authors found that participation in training courses, interaction between supervisors and employees, and mentoring were associated with improved perception of employee support.
Developing Exceptional Teams
It struck me in the coffee shop. I was having my weekly mastermind meeting with a fellow business owner. I was sharing a book that I highly recommended, and I told him that I had given a copy to each of my managers. After my friend skimmed it, he asked why I would gift it to my staff. He explained that he didn’t want to encourage his staff to dream bigger. They might get inflated egos. They might demand more. They might leave.
Staffing for Success
The high turnover rate among fitness industry staff is not news. In many cases, staff seem to be coming and going through a revolving door! Having a high-end fitness center with fancy amenities, décor and equipment is ideal, but if your staff is unable to meet client expectations, you will struggle to maintain memberships and meet your revenue goals. The good news is that your facility doesn’t need to operate like this.
Group Fitness Attendance Survey Results
Have you ever wondered how much foot traffic your group exercise programming brings into your facility? Global fitness company Les Mills has released survey data from the world’s top fitness facilities, centered on measuring accurate group fitness attendance:
Of the clubs that participated in the survey, the average club had 676 group fitness attendances per week. The top 20 clubs had an average of 3,880 attendances. The top 10 attracted on average 4,656 weekly attendances.
Serving Your Base & Looking for Opportunity in Special Populations
The 16th annual IDEA Fitness Programs & Equipment Trends survey was distributed to member club owners, fitness directors, managers and program directors in order to gather information on current programming and equipment offerings and to gauge industry trends. As club owners and directors have continued to hurdle the challenge of a down economy, they have been forced to get creative with staffing, space, equipment and programming so as to meet the needs of a diverse clientele demanding more economical fitness solutions.
Gym-Pact Charges When You Don’t Show Up
Facility owners and managers recognize that many individuals let gym membership cards collect dust. Many managers offer promotions or incentives to increase membership use. One organization uses a sort of reverse incentive to help motivate the unmotivated. Developed by Harvard students struggling to meet weekly fitness goals, the Internet-based organization Gym-Pact charges users for missed workouts. Participants set up a schedule, and they must check into a partnered gym via text message to avoid a $10 fee.
Host Successful Group Exercise Department Meetings
For a variety of reasons, as a group fitness director you need to meet with your instructors regularly. However, actually getting instructors to attend department meetings can be a daunting task. Ali Helms, fitness director at the Jewish Community Alliance in Jacksonville, Florida, offers tips for hosting a successful—and well-attended—department meeting:
Manager Meltdowns
Regardless of how big or small your role is as group fitness manager (GFM), your success depends primarily on how effectively you communicate with a diverse audience. Each employee has a need to hear you, understand your message, store the information and act on it. Keeping employees informed can eat up a lot of time and may prevent you from getting to initiatives that could grow the business.
Don’t Be That Manager: Micromanager
Many personal trainers are promoted to manager or director solely on the basis of their success as a trainer and not necessarily because of their management skills. Now it’s your turn: you are the new personal training manager.
The Language of Job Postings
If the world as we know it were coming to an end and it was your job to find skilled individuals to rebuild society, how would you pick the “right” people? If you chose wisely, they all would flourish; if you chose unwisely, everyone would flounder. When you’re hiring for your organization, use the same careful consideration.
Don’t Be That Manager: Are You Invisible?
Many personal trainers are promoted to being the manager or director of their departments based solely on their success as trainers and not necessarily for their managerial attributes. Now it’s your turn: you are the new personal training manager. You’re finding out how different it is from being on the floor working with clients.
Learn to Delegate
This column provides trainers with practical ways to approach common business obstacles using a coaching strategy called gap analysis. A gap analysis helps people identify where they are currently with regard to a situation, where they ultimately would like to see themselves, and what steps they must take in order to bridge the gap.
Empower Your Evaluations
Welcome to part three of our five-part “Crash Course in Excellence” series with takeaway strategies. This article explores performance reviews in the fitness environment, especially the often overlooked piece of the puzzle called “bilateral evaluations.”
How to Implement a QEP
Have you ever wondered how to offer your personal training staff effective, ongoing quality education that will meet your departmental goals and their professional growth desires without crippling your budget? A Quarterly Education Program (QEP) is an educational syllabus offered in-house on an annual basis that addresses those needs and more!
12 Rules of Gym Etiquette
People loudly chatting on cell phones, empty water bottles left on equipment and used towels littering the locker room floor. These are just three examples of members showing poor gym etiquette. The good news is that you can do a great deal to promote and enforce appropriate etiquette, thereby keeping clients happy and encouraging long-term member retention.
Creative Ideas That Inspire
The University of Florida Department of Recreational Sports gets executive with its class descriptions for Upper Management and Lower Management. Both classes
focus on building core strength, but the former is all about arms, chest, shoulders and upper back, while the latter homes in on the legs and glutes.